Self-insertion
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Self-insertion is a literary device in which an author character who is the real author of a work of fiction appears as a character within that fiction, either overtly or in disguise.
Famous examples of self-insertion include Dante Alighieri in The Divine Comedy, Geoffrey Chaucer in The Canterbury Tales, Paul Auster's appearance in his New York Trilogy, Robert A. Heinlein in his The Number of the Beast, Victor Hugo in his Les Misérables, John Fowles in his The French Lieutenant's Woman, Kurt Vonnegut in his Breakfast of Champions, and Stephen King's rendition of himself in the Dark Tower novels. Philip K. Dick's novel Radio Free Albemuth includes a major character named Philip K. Dick, but is written from another character's first person point of view.
The device should not be confused with a first-person narrator, or an author surrogate, or a character somewhat based on the author, whether intentionally or not. Many characters have been described as unintentional self-insertions, implying that their author is unconsciously using them as an author surrogate. This is particularly common in Mary Sue fanfiction.
Examples
- Agatha Christie's Ariadne Oliver
- Martin Amis under his own name in Money, and as Mark Asprey in London Fields.
- Anthony Burgess appears as the author P. Alexander in his novel A Clockwork Orange.
- Isaac Asimov appears as himself in Murder at the A.B.A.. He also appears to be the unnamed writer to whom the Azazel stories are narrated.
- Charlie Kaufman inserted himself as the protagonist of his screenplay Adaptation.
- Kurt Vonnegut in his novels Breakfast of Champions and Slaughterhouse-Five.
- Somerset Maugham in his novel The Razor's Edge.
- Fay Weldon's fictional analogue is referred to in Chalcot Crescent, whose main character is her (imaginary) sister.
- One of two Philip José Farmer characters named Peter Jairus Frigate; also Paul Janus Finnegan in the World of Tiers series.
- In the anime Excel Saga, Rikudo Koshi and Watanabe Shinichi appear as characters
- Watanabe also appears as the rental store owner in Nerima Daikon Brothers. Although the complete face is never seen, the silhouette and clothing makes it clear that it is Watanabe himself.
- Many webcomics (especially sprite comics like Bob and George as well as Irregular Webcomic! and many others) feature the comic's author as a character, often appearing as part of self-referential humor, filler material, or to communicate with the audience.
- Stephen King inserts himself into his Dark Tower series, starting at book five.
- Grant Morrison appears as himself in Animal Man, apologizing to the protagonist for the events in the series.
- Osamu Tezuka is seen in a few of his manga as a secondary character.
- Dave Sim inserts himself into his graphic novel Cerebus on several occasions.
- Louis Sachar in his Wayside School series.
- Hiromu Arakawa often appears as a stylized cow during the extras feature in her "Fullmetal Alchemist" manga. (Yuna Kagesaki, Chibi Vampire's author, also frequently does this.)
- Koji Kumeta makes several appearances in his manga and anime series "Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei"
- John Fowles or alternatively his authorial alter ego appears at the end of the second ending in his book "The French Lieutenant's Woman".
- A mysterious macintosh-wearing character in James Joyce's Ulysses is believed by some (including Nabokov) to be the author himself.
- The writer of the User Friendly webcomic inserts himself into the comic wearing a bag on his head.
- Clive Cussler in each of his books.
- Dennis Wheatley mentions himself as a journalist accompanying Operation Overlord in his novel They Used Dark Forces.
- Darren Shan made himself, only in an alternate reality, the main character in all books of his The Saga of Darren Shan series.
- John Steinbeck in East of Eden.
- Frida Kahlo in much of her paintings.
- The Bayeux Tapestry contains a character holding horses in the background labeled "Ivrold." The significance is unknown, but some believe it to be the tapestry's creator.
- Many of Charles Bukowski's novels contain a character named Henry Chinaski, widely known to be Bukowski's alter-ego and self-referential character.
- Douglas Coupland in his book JPod, where he meets Ethan Jarlowski on a plan to China where Coupland steals Ethan's laptop for the basis of a new book, becoming JPod.
- Hunter S. Thompson writes about himself under the alias Raoul Duke in many of his publications.
- Claudio Sanchez has a tendency to insert pieces of himself into his works; he named the eponymous character of his comic book series Kill Audio in a phonetically similar fashion to his own first name and the eventual protagonist of his multi-platform work The Amory Wars after himself.
- Twilight by Stephenie Meyer.